Yam Meng Keng and Daniel Peh

Live To Learn, Learn To Give

Yam Meng Keng:

It was James’ first day of work as a worksite supervisor.

He had just arrived at the building site for the first time, and it looked incredibly daunting. It didn’t help that he was already exhausted from a whole day of lessons at school.

James had decided to take on a job while studying in order to better support his family. Though already tired, he decided to press on.

James met his boss, Micahel, who was an engineer. Michael brought James around the worksite.

James was feeling extremely nervous. This was his first ever job and he had no experience managing other people. Michael looked at James and noticed the anxious expression on James’ face. He simply smiled and patted James on the back. He reassured James that he would always be around to guide and assist him.

Though James still felt worried, Michael’s words put him more at ease.

A few days later, James came to work at the worksite again. It had been a hard day for him so far. He had just failed a test in school and was really wondering whether it was worth it for him to continue working while studying.

Suddenly, he heard shouting. He rushed over to the scene and found 2 of his workers quarreling with each other. As it turned out, one of the workers accused the other of slacking and devolved into an argument.

James was panicking inside. This was the first time he had ever had to resolve such a situation and was concerned that the argument could devolve into a physical fight. He tried to intervene by asking them to calm down, but this only resulted in them shouting at James and asking him to take a side. James felt completely lost and flabbergasted. At this point, Michael, having heard the commotion too, rushed over. In the face of the 2 men shouting at him, Michael maintained his composure and offered to put them on separate jobs. The 2 men quickly agreed and went on their way.

At this point, James fully expected to be yelled at. It was his job after all to resolve this kind of dispute, and he felt he had failed at it. Maybe he should really quit, he thought. To his surprise, Michael simply smiled at him and said, “I hope you learnt something new today!”.

As he walked home, James reflected on the day. He had originally expected to quit but realised he still had so much more to learn. He also admired Michael for his calmness in dealing with such a difficult situation, and his kindness and understanding that he showed to him. He decided he would stay one and do his best to learn more.

Daniel Peh:

James continued working at the worksite for a few more weeks and learnt many invaluable skills about working with others and managing people. His boss Michael, continued to guide him throughout his time there.

However, as James graduated, he decided to move on and quit his job. However, he swore to himself that he would never forget the lessons and experiences gained and that he would never forget the kindness showed to him by Michael.

Influenced by his time at the worksite, James decided to pursue further studies to become an engineer.

Years later, after becoming a fully-fledged engineer, James seemingly found himself come the full circle. He was back at a worksite but this time as an engineer leading the project. This project was the largest that James had ever been involved in, and was meant to construct a brand new 10-storey building. Furthermore, this project was the first one in which James was the lead engineer. Just like that time many years ago, James felt completely out of his depth. Nonetheless, he soldiered on, vowing to do his best to make the project a success.

As time went by, James got used to the learning curve. He was still making mistakes from time to time but he knew that was fine. He told himself, learning does not stop just because he is older. Everyone makes mistakes, what was important was to learn from there. He had initially thought that life was just about studying in school and then doing the same job for the rest of life. But by now, he had come to terms with the fact that life was about lifelong learning.

One day, as James was leaving work, he heard a familiar noise, the same kind of noise that he heard many years ago on the worksite. He rushed to the scene, only to find a group of workers berating the new worksite supervisor. As it turns out, they were quarreling about some workers who they felt were slacking, and the supervisor's attempts to intervene were futile. Very Calmly, James approached them, and simply offered to have a dialogue with them the next day. With that, the workers agreed, and the supervisor thanked him profusely.

On the way home, James thought about the incident and realised something. He realised that today, he was in the same position that Michael was many years ago. And he realised why Michael didn’t get upset at him. It was because, just like him today, Michael was still learning on the job, and he sympathised with James, who was also learning, those many years ago.

From then on, James finally understood the value of learning and how important it was for him to help those coming after him to learn as well.